1. Field
The disclosure relates to electronic circuit design, and in particular, to the design of voltage buffers with active output impedance matching.
2. Background
In the art of electronic circuit design, buffers are provided to enable an input signal, e.g., an input voltage, to efficiently drive a load. Buffers may be used, e.g., as drivers for analog and digital applications such as video, audio, serial binary data, etc. The goals of buffer design include minimizing the power consumption of the buffer itself, as well as delivering power efficiently to the load by minimizing reflections from the load due to impedance mismatch. The design of buffers in sub-micron CMOS processes presents additional challenges, as the low supply voltages used may negatively impact the linearity and the impedance match between the buffer output and the load.
It would be desirable to provide techniques for designing buffers capable of working with low supply voltages commonly found in sub-micron CMOS processes, and further having active output impedance matching capability to optimize power delivery to a wide range of loads.